I groaned. He was impossible. “I can’t explain it to you. It’s something I’ll know if I see it.”
“Let me.” Mom took on ‘that’ look that mothers are famous for. “Listen here, young man. I am giving you a direct order. Tell us where Cheri lives or you do not get dessert tonight. Understand? We will put you on the next bus home. Alone.”
His eyes widened and he nodded. “Second floor. Room thirteen.” He whirled and raced away.
Mom clapped her hands. “That, my dear, is how it is done.”
“You’re amazing.” I linked my arm with hers and headed for the heavy doors that provided entrance into the dormitory-like building.
“I’m telling you she killed Susan! I saw it with my own eyes.”
I froze, then peered around the corner to see Bri conversing with Chef Bertolinni. Was it possible I was actually in the right place at the right time for once?
“You actually saw her put a sash around the handle?” He crossed his massive arms. “Pretty risky, isn’t it?”
Bri ducked her head. “I saw her coming from the sauna just minutes before I went in. When I saw the sash, I ran straight here. There’s no way I’m getting involved.”
“Who?” Mom whispered.
I shushed her, trying to figure that tidbit out for myself.
“That bridal party is bad news,” Bertolinni said. “One of them played me like a fiddle, then laughed in my face when I tried to play nice. Someone needs to solve these murders so we can all get out of here. I need to find new employment.”
“That writer is trying to find the killer. Maybe we should help her.”
“No.” He shook her. “We can’t lose anyone else. We shouldn’t even be talking about it.” He glanced around. “There are ears everywhere.”
“You’re paranoid.” She jerked free. “Until the deaths of that couple, nothing bad ever happened here.”
“That has changed, hasn’t it? We’re working in a death trap.”
“What do you know?”
He shook his head. “If I tell you, you’ll be in danger. I’ve said too much. Go to your room and stay there until your shift.”
I gripped Mom’s hand. “We have to talk to him before he disappears.”
Bri dashed up a set of stairs to her right, leaving the big man alone in a room that looked a step above a fraternity house. I cleared my throat and stepped around the corner.
“You again?” He groaned and fell into a chair, the wood creaking under him. “I suppose you heard?”
“Yep, sorry. We actually were here to talk to someone else, but you’ll do.”
“We can’t talk here. Meet me in the woods in half an hour.”
“No way,” Mom said. “You could shoot us in the head and leave us for the bears.”
His eyes widened. “I wouldn’t do that.”
She shrugged.
“There has to be somewhere else…private, but where we could call for help if you try anything.” I glanced out the window. “The garden?”
“Ears out there, too.” He sighed. “Meet me down the hill that leads to this place. Only go as far as you feel comfortable. Bring your man if it makes you feel safer.”
“Okay,” I said, leading Mom from the building.
“He isn’t going to show,” she said.
“Probably not, but we can’t make him. If he doesn’t show up, we’ll have Rodriguez interrogate him.”
“There is something about that man that doesn’t ring true.”
“Which one?” I turned to stare at her.
“Rodriguez. If he was an officer worth his salt, he should have found out something. Any information dug up has come from us.”
I bit my lower lip. Mom was right. Unless the cop kept things close to his vest, he hadn’t discovered any information to solve the murders. Now, why was that? If he’d heard about the offshore accounts, he could have turned dirty. Cops did it all the time when money was involved. I needed to talk to Matt asap, and now, I’d gone and made an appointment that would most likely result in nothing more than a waste of time.
After finding out that Matt and Wayne were still with Rodriguez, Mom and I headed down the road to where we could see the resort if we stood on our tiptoes. Fifteen minutes passed, then ten. Bertolinni wasn’t coming.
“There he is.” Mom pointed to the rise of the hill. “He’s running.”
The big man raced as if the hounds of hell were on his heels. From the wild waving of his hands, I gathered we should scatter. I dashed into the bushes on one side of the road, Mom the other. Seconds later, Mr. Bertolinni joined me.
“Keep going,” he said.
“Is this a ploy to separate me from help?”
“It’s to keep you alive.” He shoved me to the ground. “I swear someone took a shot at me when I came out of the dormitory.”
My heart skipped a beat. “Are you sure?”
“Pretty sure. I heard a pop, then rocks peppered my feet. What else could it have been?”
Maybe Bri was right and the man was paranoid. “It doesn’t appear as if anyone is chasing you now. They would have had a clear shot of you running down the middle of the road.”
“You think I’m imagining things?”
“Yes, now, tell me what you were—”
A pop sounded.
A hole appeared in the middle of his head.
I screamed and covered my head with my arms. No, wait. I was a sitting duck. There was no guessing whether the former chef was dead. No one survives a shot to the head. I scrambled through the bushes and took off as fast as I could.
When my heart threatened to beat out of my chest, I stopped. A twig snapped to my right. I fell to my knees.
“Whoa.” A man in hunting gear parted the branches above my head. “What are you doing out here? I could easily shoot you.”
Oh, no. “Did you recently fire that gun?” I motioned toward his rifle.
“Yeah. Caught a glimpse of a deer. Thought you were another one.”
“You shot a person!” I leaped to my feet and slammed both hands into his chest. “Idiot.” I fished my cell phone from my pocket and dialed Matt’s number. “We have another body. This one supposedly an accident.” I gave him directions and yanked the hunter’s sleeve. “Follow me.”
“No. No. I didn’t mean to. It was…” he whirled and crashed away, leaving me standing alone in an unfamiliar forest with a dead body mere yards away.
16
By the time Matt arrived in a golf cart, I had found my way to the road. Matt bent over Mom’s crumpled body.
I rushed to her side. “Mom!” The thing I feared most had happened.
“Stormi.” She covered her face and wept. “When I heard the gunshot, and you didn’t appear, I feared the worst.”
“I thought the same when I saw you here. The body is in there.” I pointed before wrapping my arms around Mom. “Can we go home now?”
She took a deep, shuddering breath. “No. I promised the kids horseback riding and zip-lining. They’ve been very patient on this non-vacation of ours. They deserve some fun.”
My shoulders slumped. I really didn’t know how much more I could take. Couldn’t we schedule those types of activities somewhere else? Somewhere death didn’t taint the air?
I sat on the side of the road and waited what felt like hours for Matt to return. When he did, he squatted in front of us.
“What happened?” He smoothed the hair away from my face.
Instead of answering, I threw myself into his arms, driving him backwards. The breath left him in a whoosh as he landed hard on his backside. Answers could wait. I needed comfort. I wrapped my arms around his neck and held on like a drowning person.
“It’s okay.” He hugged me tight. “I won’t let anything happen to you.”
“You weren’t here.”
“You left without waiting for me.”
“Never again.”
He chuckled. “I’ve heard that before.” He helped me to my feet and into the seat of the g
olf cart. “Want to tell me what happened?” His smile faded, and his expression turned grave.
I closed my eyes in an attempt not to forget anything. “I was questioning Bertolinni. He said someone shot at him outside the dormitory, but I didn’t believe him. I thought he was paranoid. Then, we ducked into the woods, out of sight, me this way, Mom that, and someone shot him.” Shudders overtook me and Matt draped his fleece hoodie around my shoulders. “I ran into a hunter. He said he had just killed a deer. When I told him he had shot a person, he took off.”
Wayne and Rodriguez darted into the trees, presumably after the hunter.
“You and Anne take the cart,” Matt said, placing a tender kiss on my forehead. “We’ll walk back after the crime scene investigators are finished.”
“Thank you.” I didn’t think my legs would hold me long enough to carry me that distance.
Mom climbed into the driver’s seat. “I’ve always wanted to drive one of these.” She placed a hand over mine. “I’m glad you aren’t dead.”
I laughed. “I’m glad you’re still kicking, too.”
“Great. Let’s go eat.” She started the ignition and sped toward the main building.
Food did not sound good at the moment, but maybe I’d hear something of value. If Bertolinni’s death wasn’t an accident, only the killer would know he was dead. I was hoping someone would slip up and say something incriminating.
Fifteen minutes later, we were sitting at supper. The room was as loud and bustling as ever with Cheri watching over everyone like a queen on her throne. No one seemed to miss the former chef.
The group of bridesmaids giggled and hollered from a nearby table. They didn’t seem to feel the absence of the bride in the slightest. Shelby probably demanded the attention be on her every minute and they could now enjoy themselves.
My family ate at a table to my left. Angela cast glares my way. Wait until she found out how close Mom and I had come to being shot. I bet her rare tender side toward me would show.
“Found this.” Rusty plopped down at our table and handed me a matchbook from a restaurant in Australia.
“Where did you get this?”
“Bad woman’s room.”
“Thank you, but you should have left it to me.”
He shook his head, his ridiculously over-sized bow tie dangling at his throat. “Too dangerous for a woman.”
I chose the wise course of not arguing with him. His snooping had just proved Cheri had been in Australia. I slipped it into my pocket to show Matt when he returned. “Anything else?”
“Plane ticket.” He grinned and handed it to me. “Rusty did good.”
“Yes, you did.” My face fell. The name on the ticket was Mason Lereux. He hadn’t found new information at all. Still, I forced a smile, not wanting to steal his thunder.
Mom, obviously, had no such thought. “That’s Shelby’s ticket. We need something against Cheri.”
Rusty frowned. “This?” He handed me an itinerary for Lauren Boudreaux.
“Who in the world is this?” I had seen the name on the flight manifest, only noticing it because of the French sounding name.
“Bad woman.”
“Why?”
He tossed a passport and driver’s license on the table. Both had Cheri’s picture and Lauren’s name.
I opened the passport. A stamp showed she had gone to Australia under the name of Laureen at the same time Seth and Shelby had. I sat back in my seat, covering the items with my napkin. I’d bet my favorite pair of shoes that Cheri was the woman on the flight with the bad wig. But, why lie? If Cheri was the killer, why kill Seth and not Shelby? The web tangled further.
Mom took the items, napkin and all, and slid them into her purse. “Now what?”
“I have no idea.” I bit my lower lip. “If Cheri is the killer, she’ll flee. But, she has the opportunity to have done everything that’s been happening. Is it possible she knows about the offshore accounts?”
“How?” Mom set her purse in her lap. “What relation does she have to Boyd Industries?”
“That’s what we need to find out.” Then, we could confront her and, possibly, put an end to this reign of madness.
Time for more research on the computer. I stood and motioned for Cherokee to follow me. As we made our way to the cottage, I filled my niece in on what I needed her to do.
“I’ll do my best. I like digging into people’s personal lives.” She grinned. “Maybe you can hire me as your IT person for the investigative business.”
“I’d be happy to, if I ever go that route full time. How are you feeling?”
“Better. The nightmares are less.”
“Even with all that is happening here?”
“What is happening here doesn’t directly affect me.” She swiped her card into the lock and opened the cottage door.
“Age before beauty.”
“You got that ri—” I froze. The place looked as if a tornado blew through.
Cushions ripped apart. Dishes shattered. The sofa had been slashed and suitcases dumped. Written in red across one wall were the words, “Go home”.
“Find those financial forms.” If they were gone, we were back at square one.
“Heavens to Betsy!” Mom stood in the doorway.
I whirled. “Tell me you have those offshore accounts.” The police department did, but I felt better having a copy where we could do our own investigating.
“Of course, I do.” She patted the big bag she called a purse. “They’ve been here since day one. I stashed an extra copy in my bra too. Best hiding place in the world, although it is a bit scratchy. I doubt anyone will go looking there.”
I sagged with relief to the ruined sofa and reached for my laptop. Since it was password protected, it seemed to be in good condition. I handed it to Cherokee. “Work your magic while I call Matt.”
Poor man. I kept him running from one corner of the resort to the other. Some recuperation for his shoulder. I dialed Matt’s number.
“Please don’t tell me you have another body,” he said.
“Nope, just a ransacked cottage.”
“We’ll be there within the hour. Don’t leave and lock the door. Don’t touch anything. Keep your gun close at hand.”
Having my gun either in my waistband or in my purse was becoming second nature. We traded “I love you” and hung up. Not being able to clean the mess around me, I watched Cherokee’s fingers fly across the keyboard of the laptop.
“Finding anything?”
“It takes more than two minutes.”
I sighed and got up to lock the door, waiting while my sister, nephew, and Maryann entered. “Welcome to hell.”
Maryann shook her head. “What a mess.” She dropped her purse on the table. “While you were off creating trouble, I’ve spent some time eavesdropping on our group of bridesmaids. Want to know what I heard?”
“Please.” I took her hand and led her to the kitchen table. After standing a couple of chairs back on four legs, we sat down. “Spill.”
“Shelby’s engagement is off. Lawrence, not being a suspect, has left the resort.” She looked pleased with herself. “He paid another week’s worth of resort fee for her and left a screaming Shelby in the love nest they once shared.”
This was news. “Did they say why they broke up?”
“Supposedly, the big man can’t take the drama. He said the world is full of beautiful women, and he’ll find one more to his liking as the wife of an important person. Needless to say, Shelby is beside herself and being restrained in the clinic for threatening suicide.”
“I didn’t know the resort had a clinic.” The waters continued to be muddied.
“Cheri is Shelby’s cousin,” Cherokee said, turning the laptop around so I could see. “She changed her name two years ago to Cheri Mason and bragged on Facebook how she lost her accent.”
“She’s here on a work visa?”
“Looks that way.” Cherokee held out her hand. “Twenty-five buc
ks, please.”
“But, I—fine.” I took the money from my purse. It was inexpensive as far as consulting fees went.
The sound of the door unlocking drew our attention. I pulled my gun from my purse and stood ready, lowering my guard when Matt, Wayne, and Rodriguez entered. After all, whoever had ransacked the room had had a card key. I could testify to how easy they were to obtain.
Rodriguez glared at me, then made his way from room-to-room while I quietly filled Matt in on what Maryann and Cherokee had discovered. “What did you find out in the woods?”
“Why are we whispering?” he asked.
“I don’t trust him.” I motioned my head toward the bedroom.
“Smart girl.” He tweaked my nose. “Bertolinni’s death was no accident. We found where the shooter knelt in the woods. He had a clear line of sight to where the two of you were standing.” A shadow passed over his eyes. “If you hadn’t of run and tried to call me…”
My blood drained to my feet. “I can identify the shooter, Matt.” I gripped his arms. “I looked into his face.”
17
The next morning, I put my foot in the stirrup of a handsome horse the color of Arkansas clay and hoisted myself into the saddle, making sure Matt was nearby. I hadn’t been kidding when I said I wanted him by my side every minute from now on.
“What’s this beauty’s name?” I asked the guide.
“JR. You’ll have to show him who is boss. He might be small, but he’s feisty.” Barb, our guide, slapped JR on the rump. “Move him up. He refuses to have any horse in front of him, but mine.”
Mom was right. Squeezing in a few more days of fun before heading back home was just what we needed. The sun shined bright, a cool breeze kept us from getting too hot on an unnaturally warm fall day, and birds serenaded us from the nearby trees. I grinned at Matt over my shoulder.
He returned the smile and held his large black horse’s reins loosely in his good hand. “You should have ridden with me. Your arms around my waist is just what I need.”
While the gesture was sweet, I enjoyed riding alone. “Ride next to me.”
The moment he moved closer, JR tried to take a bite of inky dark horseflesh. I shrugged as Matt fell in behind me.
Nosy Neighbor: All 7 complete Nosy Neighbor cozy mysteries PLUS: 2 short Christmas stories (A Nosy Neighbor mystery) Page 84
